someone has just stolen my child's toy :(

[goldenduckling]

My ds is 2.5 and crazy about bing (annoying black rabbit on cbeebies) since there is no bing toys available yet I found a pattern online and made him a cuddly toy bing. This has received a lot of attention and have happily taken peoples email addresses and linked them to the pattern.
This morning we went to the park and a woman approached me asking about my ds's bing, I offered to email her the pattern but she said she wanted to buy the one that I had made. I explained that he wasn't for sale but she kept offering me more and more money (£50 ) in the end after trying to explain I snapped a bit, said that its my son's favourite toy and its not for sale and to please leave me alone now.
She huffed off and left with her dd, less than a minute later my ds started crying "bing gone" I assumed he had dropped him off the climbing frame but couldn't find him anywhere, I walked to the other end of the park and saw this woman getting in her car with bing in her hands! I tried to run after her but she drove off, got my phone out to try and take a picture of the number plate but it was to late.
Who on earth would do that? I'm going in between being angry and trying not to cry. Ds cried the whole way home and is now looking around trying to find him
My dd is a year old and we have been in and out of hospital with her for her whole life. I made bing as a present for ds for being angel at all of dds appointments, he even helps to stop her crying during tests.
Lucky I have lots of fabric left over so I'm desperately cutting out fabric to make another one.
I'm just in shock, who on earth would take a toy off a 2year old!
I really don't think the police would be interested in a homemade toy being stolen, sorry for the pity post, I just needed to rant

I hope the stitching went okay today. I made two for my 2.5 yr old bing obsessed twins and they took me FOREVER! I would be livid if someone stole something I made for them.
If Bing is not complete I'm happy to take pictures of Bing on his holibobs as we live in a tourist city. Just message me if you need more time.
What a lovely mummy making toys for your little one and lovely people on here understanding how unreasonable your situation is.

What an awful cow! How an adult can do that is beyond me!

What a lovely gesture from bingbunnysdaddy! Hope there is a happy ending!

We LOVE Bing and have joined the many who has now liked the page!

I love this thread! (But also hate your ds was sad golden). It has made me love Bing even more though.

What an awful awful person. I hope they get her on CCTV. What sort of nutter steals from a 2 year old. So pleased Bing's Daddy has come along :) My 2 year old loves Bing too!

I'd definitely get it shared on local facebook sites, and contact local paper. I'd also be staking out the park probably!
My son had a personalised towel, made by a friend of a friend, with his first name appliqued on. We then sewed all his swimming badges on as he got them, with a total of about 8 badges. That got stolen from the local swimming baths, couldn't believe it. No-one could have mistaken it as theirs, but I still phoned the baths daily for a few days after in case someone brought it back. My son was devastated, and I still can't get my head around who would want his towel and badges. Can only assume it was to do with having the same first name.....

I cannot believe the number of people with similar stories - their toys being stolen out of their hands! I know worse things happen but some people are utterly shameless.

Can I recommend the stories from "This is the Bear" The first This is the Bear is a lovely story pitched for a 2+ yo about the boy's bear getting put in the bin by the naughty dog and how they get the bear back.

The second: This is the Bear and the bad little girl has a naughty girl stealing the beloved bear (psst it all ends well). Might be nice to have a happy ending for your DS to read.

Also much mentioned on here is Tatty Ratty by the wonderful Helen Cooper This book made me cry soft arse when bunny is found again. In fact I love all of the Helen Cooper books I have read to my children.

Aww, how sweet of Bing's creators! I don't know who Bing is (I'm American) but I will check him out. Toddler DD loves "nunnies."

Op I'm so sorry! What a vile, vile woman! How could she?! I hope the police find her. Someone needs to hammer it home to her that you don't just steal things!

Oh I just realised I haven't answered whether you're BU or not OP:

You Are Not Bing Unreasonable.

(See what I did there? )

I'm in Australia so also don't know who bing is, but will be finding out now for my 2 and 3yr old boys. The program sounds lovely.

This is definitely one of the worst, and conversely one of the best threads I've ever read on mumsnet. Big hugs to your ds, op, and for you - what a horrible thing to have happened, but I'm so glad that such lovely kind hearted people exist to try to help you make things better. (And if you need an Aussie postcard, just shout, I'm also happy to help)

Bigredball

I love bing! he's amazing.

hope your little ones ok op, some people are just vile :(

So....I'm a little confused. Happy ending?!?!! Xxx

Can we have a picture of Bing when he's finished Golden? I'd love to see him.

How lovely of Bings creator. Hope the woman who stole from your child gets a really nasty dose of thrush.

It's a bad bad thing what the woman did, I agree, but I can't believe you called the police for a stolen toy.

Just read through all of this and through happy tears I conclude...
Kindness and reaching out to others in their time of need... it's a Bing thing!
(Sob...)

I think that calling the police was fine - stealing from a young child is so wrong, especially as the OP had already explained she had made it, that it was her DS's favourite and the woman felt it was worth £50.

Yes, but it was't technically worth £50, was is?
Just in the wild imagination of the woman.

It feels like a waste of police time to me.

It was worth what the woman was willing to pay for it.

I think that if the Police had felt like it was a waste of their time they would have said - to be fair, I don't think they're going to put the woman on their list of 'most wanted' bitch that she is

Just seen this thread. What a horrible nasty piece of work this woman was. Just awful. I can imagine how intimidating this woman must have been op but hope she hasn't scared you into not taking it further via facebook/local media etc? This story really needs to be picked up by someone, can't let this woman think she can go around stealing toys from young children! Just awful but sending you and your family lots of bing hugs (or whatever bing does! ??)

Definitely not a waste of police time. The woman is the worse kind of scum. Its had an emotional affect too. I bet the OP will be thinking about it every time she is sat in the park with a toy!

It's not about how much it's worth, it's the principal of it. It's just such a low thing to do and she deserves to be exposed and humiliated. A police visit would do her good.